Oxfam and Plan Malawi have extended humanitarian intervention to survivors of Tropical Storm Ana which rendered many people destitute in a number of districts in the country.

Despite Balaka district registering a seven percent decrease in gender-based violence over the past eight months, Women Legal Resource Center (WOLREC) and OXFAM say there is still a need to involve the police in addressing the same.

Long distances to police structures and inadequate police officers in rural areas continue to stifle efforts to effectively respond to survivors of gender-based violence.

Oxfam says the country’s rural public health facilities require direct support towards COVID-19 management amid a surge of local transmission which has not spared rural areas.

The Ministry of Agriculture acknowledges that structuring all agricultural markets will go a long way in ensuring that smallholder farmers profit from their yields.